ATKINS - The School Board took less than five minutes during a special meeting Tuesday to vote in favor of the expulsion of two male students for the remainder of the school year.

The students, ages 16 and 17, were arrested Jan. 10 by Atkins police in connection with a vandalism incident Jan. 5 at the high school football fieldhouse. School officials reported as much as $20,000 in vandalism and items allegedly stolen.

"This is not a pleasant task you have in front of you," Superintendent Al Davidson told school board members before they voted 4-0 by voice vote to approve the expulsion of each student. Davidson said after the meeting the students could register for school at the beginning of the 2004-05 school year. Their re-admittance would not have to be approved by the board.

The 17-year-old remains incarcerated at the Pope County Detention Center after his bond was set at $15,000 by Russellville District Judge Don Bourne during a Jan. 12 bond hearing. Testimony by Atkins police Sgt. Scott Harper during the hearing revealed that some of the items stolen from the fieldhouse were located at the teenager's home.

The youth faces one count of theft by receiving, a Class D felony punishable by 3-10 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction and up to a $3,000 fine.

Assistant coach Gary Childress walked into the fieldhouse after the holiday break and discovered several videocassette recorders, VCR tapes, a large screen television and snack machines had been turned over, broken or destroyed.

The 16-year-old arrested with the two 17-year-olds was released to his parents and faces juvenile charges after he was cited for burglary, theft of property and criminal mischief. A 17-year-old male, not a student at the high school, had bond set at $25,000 commercial Jan. 12 and faces Pope County Circuit Court felony charges of burglary, theft of property and criminal mischief.

Davidson and high school principal Robert Travis said the investigation continues into a Dec. 29 incident at the 3-year-old high school gymnasium, where someone allegedly set fire in a trash can, discovered by athletic director and head football coach Charlie Sorrels that afternoon. He smelled smoke after noticing a concession stand window and part of a trophy case had been broken out with bricks.

A bond condition of the students expelled by the school board Tuesday is they were ordered by Judge Bourne to stay away from any Atkins School District property.